Antiques Collector Bought a Painting for $50 at a Garage Sale. It Could Be a Van Gogh Masterpiece Worth $15M

A painting bought for $50 at a garage sale might actually be a Vincent van Gogh masterpiece worth $15 million.

According to ARTNews, the painting was bought by an antiques collector at a garage sale in Minnesota in 2016 before experts discovered its potential worth.

Named Elimar, the piece is a thick impasto oil painting of a fisherman holding a pipe in his mouth; he sports a white beard and a round brown hat. The fisherman also appears to be repairing his net while positioned on the sand in front of the ocean.

The outlet reports that the painting was made in 1889 and is likely named after the man in the portrait.

It’s also assumed that the creation was done while van Gogh was at the Saint-Paul psychiatric sanitarium in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France.

Per ARTNews, the Dutch artist remained in the psychiatrist hospital between May 1889 and May 1890 and there painted 150 canvases, including Irises (1889), The Starry Night (1889) and Almond Blossom (1890).

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According to The Wall Street Journal, Elimar was bought by the New York-based art research firm, LMI Group International, for an undisclosed sum in 2019.

While the painting has not been authenticated by the Van Gogh Museum, the firm used 20 experts to investigate the painting’s authenticity and stated that it could be worth at least $15 million.

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In a 458-page report, one of the findings noted was that Elimar's pigments and fibers match the ones produced in van Gogh’s period. All but one of the pigments used to paint the work also match.

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“The analysis conducted on this distinctive painting provides fresh insight into the oeuvre of van Gogh, particularly as it relates to his practice of reinterpreting works by other artists,” Maxwell L. Anderson, Chief Operating Officer of LMI Group and former Metropolitan Museum of Art director, said in a statement, per ARTNews.

Anderson added, “This moving likeness embodies van Gogh’s recurring theme of redemption, a concept frequently discussed in his letters and art. Through Elimar, van Gogh creates a form of spiritual self-portrait, allowing viewers to see the painter as he wished to be remembered.”

Meanwhile, art authenticator Richard Polsky, who wasn’t involved in the research, told The Wall Street Journal that the painting had to be approved by a scholar at the Van Gogh Museum first to prove its authenticity.

"People love it when things fall through the cracks, and it would be wonderful if they found a van Gogh — but they’ve got to pin everything down and get a scholar at the Van Gogh Museum to sign off on it," he said.

In a statement sent to PEOPLE on Friday, Jan. 31, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam said that they had "considered the new information mentioned in the LMI Group's Elimar report."

"Based on our previous opinion on the painting in 2019, we maintain our view that this is not an authentic painting by Vincent van Gogh," the statement added.

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